Post-structuralist farmers unite!

[lolaraincoat]

So here is a conversation that fishwhistle and I actually had while halfway through the dread annual chore of picking the grapes off the trellis:

me: Augh! I got grape juice in my eyebrows!

Fishwhistle: ...

me: It's not funny!Fishwhistle: well, but it

Comments

[elgoose]

I'm not sure about the peaches and berries together in grape juice. One or the other, maybe, especially the raspberries, but there's nothing to say you couldn't try a small batch of all three to see how they come out. I made a small batch of jam recently and am just refrigerating it while I eat some every day. V. v. easy, since I don't have room on the current kitchen to really put jam up (wait till next year!).

[lolaraincoat]

Hmmm, yes, you're right - one or the other, but not both. The peaches are boiling in grape juice as we speak ....

[ptyx]

LOL! You and Fishwhistle cracked me up!

[lolaraincoat]

He's pretty funny. I'm just strange.

[executrix]

Well, if you mixed up your produce with stuff from outside you would be a counter-terroirist...

Paula Wolfert's The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen goes a ton on verjus, which is slightly soured but not, y'know, to the point of being WINE grape juice--Wolfert says you crush the grapes, strain the juice, let it settle, and strain again; you can boil it to kill the yeast let it cool and refrigerate or freeze. She says it provides acidity (e.g., in salad or on fish) but doesn't kill the wine you're drinking.

[lolaraincoat]

AH-HAH! verjus was what we ended up with, entirely by accident, last year. We just drank it, though; it was tasty!

[tofty]

I have no jamming advice for you, but I do think you should make Man! It sucks being middle class! Your personal motto. Or maybe your lj title, or something. Too good not to use.

[lolaraincoat]

Hee! Yeah, it's funny because it's true.

[hederahelix]

This is going to sound nuts, and also reveal that I spend way too much time watching Top Chef, but how do people do individually quick frozen things? I mean, I *buy* things from TJ's that have clearly been IQF. But if there's a way to do it at home, you could easily cut up some of the peaches and toss in some raspberries and just have those on top of things like ice cream or pound cake come later in the year when they are out of season.

Of course, I suspect this while IQF thing requires some extra fancy super cold freezer that industrial kitchens have and mere mortals at home lack, but it was worth a shot.

Also, do not forget you can buy molds and make popsicles with the grape juice.

[lolaraincoat]

You don't sound nuts at all. Individually quick frozen merely requires a plain old freezer, and actually raspberries and peaches stand up to it pretty well - you can just wash them, maybe blanch them before cutting up (if required) into handy bits, and then stick them in a freezer bag. Out problem is that we lack freezer space, since it's full of tomato soup and marinara sauce at the moment and will soon also have quite a lot of salsa verde (I see I forgot to mention the INSANE TOMATILLOS WITH THE EVIL LAUGH THAT ARE PLOTTING TO TAKE OVER THE UNIVERSE STARTING WITH MY BACK YARD OMG) (sorry about that) (but anyway)

So we need forms of long-term storage that don't require the freezer. Although ... popsicles ... that's genius is what it is. Sooner or later we will have to just give in and get a stand-alone freezer and put it in the laundry room like everyone else in Toronto. Mmmmm .... grape popsicles ...

[blacksquirrel]

Yes, I had no idea Tomatillos were so prolific! We bought two tiny 1in tall plants in the spring and they have now spread out over everything! They escaped the garden enclosure, hopped a little fence, and are now making a break for the neighbor's lawn over 5 feet of rocks and pine needles. If the summer could go on for another few months, I have no doubt that they'd make it!

But - we have a space freezer, so there will be lots and lots of fabulous tomatillo salsa! yay!

[lolaraincoat]

Tomatillos are evil bastards. Also, they will volunteer all the hell over the place - I didn't plant any this year except one relatively well-behaved purple tomatillo, but the green ones are still strangling everything in their path except the chamomille. Mint and thistles didn't stand a chance in my garden this year, because our new invasive plants are so much worse.